The Pantry

The more I read, the more I think. The more I think, the less I know. The less I know, the more I read. This has been the cycle. Read, think, ponder, question, read.... Slowly, out of the background, a thought has been forming, peeking through the questions and the research, until it finally came to a head and just kind of hit me today.

Yet another friend of mine posted something on facebook about a new low-calorie treat and how excited she was about it, but it's filled with naughty ingredients. I realized how focused our society is on calories. I know I've alluded to this many times, especially in my most noted Weight Watchers article (see this also), but today it just really struck me - when did it become all about calories? I'm using calories here, but for the point of the argument I also mean carbs, fat, protein, fiber, etc. The term calorie was first defined in 1824 by Nicolas Clement, so for 5,800+ years, people got along just fine without worrying about how many calories they were consuming. The obesity epidemic didn't start to become a big issue until the mid 20th century, so clearly the lack of importance on caloric intake didn't cause problems with being overweight. Shouldn't we follow history's lead here?

Our society today spends so much time focusing on how many calories were consuming, how many grams of fat and which kinds of fat, how many grams of protein, how many grams of fiber vs. how many carbohydrates, and the list goes on and on, and yet we're the most obese culture in the world (and I might go so far as to say here: we're the most obese culture in the history of the world). Is this system really working for us? If we do manage to figure out the magic formula for all the right proportions, how much of our time will be spent looking at the side of the box, adding and subtracting, tallying up our totals for this and that? To be honest, that sounds time consuming, mind-numbingly boring, and rather stressful.

The main thing our society overlooks is ingredients. There has been some push toward this mindset recently, which has led to an increase in organic and all-natural products on the shelves. But for the most part, our society still completely misses the point. We have completely over-complicated something I believe was originally intended to be quite simple.

The Creator of the Universe was extremely intentional in every last detail that went in to His Creation. With that in mind, it is clear that He had a specific plan for nutrition. That is why He filled the earth with healthy foods for His people to eat. God has stocked our pantry full of the foods that He knows are best for our bodies. And if anyone knows what's best for our bodies, it's the One who created them and understands their anatomy and physiology better than anyone.

What then did He put in The Pantry? He supplied us with fruits and veggies, grains, nuts and seeds, and animals which supply both meat and dairy. Foods that have been created in a laboratory or genetically modified are not supplied by God, they are man's attempt to do something better then God. That idea will never work. We cannot be better than God. It's no wonder that the foods man created have made man fat and unhealthy.

I've worked through a lot of questions I've had about how this concept works. For instance, marijuana comes from a plant. Is that part of The Pantry? Honestly, I think that might be part of The Medicine Cabinet. Or how about how much processing did God intend for us to do to His supply? To this, I've looked to history. I'm not sure what the diet was like thousands of years ago, but I do know that they didn't go to the supermarket to buy their food. And the first establishment that resembles our modern day restaurant didn't show up until the 11th century, so for 5,000+ years, people got along without supermarkets or restaurants. This tells me if it's something that you can conceivably garner from The Pantry and process yourself, then it's probably ok. For example, butter is simply milk that has been churned for quite a while. I have made butter before. I could conceivably go milk a cow or a goat, churn the milk, and eventually get butter. Obviously, we don't live in a society where we can spend all day making butter, but if I'm going to look at the store for it, I'm going to find the one that's only ingredient is milk. Any other ingredients in butter (save for salt which isn't necessary and salted butter should be avoided) are man-made and not from The Pantry.

So that's it, that's my philosophy that has been burgeoning for quite some time now. Whole, fresh foods from The Pantry God stocked for us, buying processed only when necessary and only for something in which you could conceivably make yourself if you had the time. No need to worry about the biochemistry of the foods found in The Pantry - the calories, fat, protein, etc. - because the Creator supplied foods that are good for our bodies (I will not say they are foods that will automatically make us skinny, because no where in the Bible do I find a call to be skinny, only a call to take care of our bodies as they are a temple for the Lord). And He gave us a body that, when we get in tune with it, tells us when to eat and when to stop. I have completely stopped looking at the Nutritional Information table and only look at the ingredient list. That tells me all I need to know.

To Count or Not To Count...

As promised, today I'm going to share something that just doesn't work for me. In one of my very first articles, I mentioned using a food journal to help me stay under my "calorie-limit" for each day and gave links to how you could find what your limit should be. This method works well for a lot of people - you may even be one of them - but not for me. I have tried food journals and counting calories several times and it's never once worked. This time I made it a little more than 3 weeks  before it fizzled out. 

The most common thing I hear people say in reference to food journaling is, "it's really helped me see what I'm actually eating and to see where I need to cut back." Honestly, my first reaction to this statement is really?? You don't know what you're eating each day unless you write it down and look at it later? That seems like a pretty big problem. The first thing we need to do is be aware of what we're putting in our mouth, as we're putting it in our mouth! That should not be the reason we are keeping track of what we eat. 

However, there are some good things that can come from keeping a journal of our food intake. It can help you make sure you've taken in everything that you need to - have I had all the fruits and veggies I need today? have I had 6 or 7 glasses of water so far today? Do I need more protein today? Also, if you record how you feel as well, it can help you link what you eat to how you feel. I have seen how sugar gives me stomachaches, how not enough water gives me a headache, how too many tomato-based sauces give me heartburn, etc. What we eat has everything to do with how our body functions and journaling can help you see the correlation. For these reasons, I will continue to give journaling a try because I think it's important to see how your diet effects your health. But I certainly don't need to write it down to know that I had too much junk one day.

The other aspect that fails horribly for me is counting calories. Being so concerned by keeping track of how many calories I've had and how many I have to go actually makes me hungry. It keeps my focus on food and eating all day long which naturally makes me hungry. I kept count for about 3 weeks and noticed that my calorie intake progressively increased with each day that I kept track. This is how it always happens for me so I don't think I will try to count calories again. For me, it just doesn't work. It wasn't all a loss though, counting calories did help me to get a better grasp on portions and meal times. The first week, when I was doing well staying under my limit, I ate at regular meal times (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner) and used smaller plates and servings. Therefore, as long as I make sure to eat only at regular intervals and not all day long, and to watch my portions when I do eat, I can be fairly confident that I'm staying within a healthy calorie range without actually going through the hassle of counting each and every one. If you really like the idea of counting though, there are some great apps out there to help you - the Livestrong app, the Spark People app, and My Fitness Pal are all great apps to help you keep track of not only your calories, but also your fat, sugar, carb, protein, fiber, etc. intake. And they happen to be a journal as well... win/win. 

For those of you who have tried calorie counting and food journaling, do they work for you? Why or why not?

Venting Some Frustrations...

I've not been sure of what to write lately. This week I became paralyzed by the overwhelming amounts of information that's out there and from trying to decipher what is true and what is to make a profit. The desire to keep trying to wade my way through the masses and get to the bottom of the health mystery and the desire to throw my hands in the air and give up duked it out, and unfortunately, this week the desire to get healthy was on the losing side. Because of my knee injury, I haven't been able to do a lot of exercising the past few weeks, and that led to a backward slide in my nutrition as well. My sweets intake skyrocketed this week and I had an insatiable craving for "snacks" all week long. And, as expected, I didn't feel well for much of the week - sluggish, weak, headaches, bloated, stomachaches, etc.

In the Introduction to his book, Food Rules, Michael Pollan voices nicely what I find so frustrating. In talking about the Western diet, and the Diet and Nutrition Industry's desire to pinpoint the exact problem in the Western diet (carbs? sugar? salt? calories? etc.) while ignoring the entire diet as a whole, he says: "There's a lot of money in the Western diet. The more you process any food, the more profitable it becomes. The healthcare industry makes more money treating chronic diseases than preventing them. So we ignore the elephant in the room and focus instead on the good and evil nutrients, the identities of which seem to change with every new study. But for the Nutritional Industrial Complex, this uncertainty is not necessarily a problem, because confusion is a good business." (Emphasis mine.) He goes on to say that every time the industry discovers the "real problem," the food manufacturers can go back and tweak their products to reflect these findings, and then everyone across the board can make another round of profit without caring if they actually improve anyone's health - in fact, they may even aim NOT to improve health so that they can continue to "fix" the problem. This perfectly articulates the problem which I find so MADDENING when I try to do any research - why it all contradicts itself, why there is no clear answer, why you can try a lot of different things and still not lose weight or improve health conditions.

One obvious point that jumps out after changing how I think about food: what we eat isn't actually food. Pollan uses the term edible foodlike substances. Every time they tweak something to fit the new fad, it becomes less food and more product. There are a lot of things I loved about his book and I'm sure to reference it again, but in the meanwhile, I highly recommend you buy a copy for yourself. It's very short and consists of straightforward, common sense rules.

So I guess the point of this article was just to vent some frustrations... I'm ready to dive back into the mire and will continue to use my common sense approach to try and decipher what is actually helpful and what is not. Stay tuned... (hopefully) exciting stuff to come...

There's Always More Where That Came From

I have this awful tendency to stuff my face full of food, well past the point when I'm full, because I love food. This is probably my primary hindrance keeping me from a healthy weight. I've increased my workout activity by quite a bit and decreased my inactive "couch potato" time as much as possible; I've made drastic changes in what I eat, and have even done well reducing my portion size - I often use one of my daughter's toddler plates. The problem is I go back for seconds. (To be fair, I have to have made some improvement here as I used to go back for seconds with my normal overly large adult dinner plates and now I go back for seconds with Emerson's itty bitty toddler plate, but it's still seconds. The initial serving is actually an accurate serving - I don't need more.)

As I mentioned, part of the problem is that I just love food. I could never be anorexic because I love the taste of food way too much. I really thought about how this impacted my eating habits and I realized this causes me to eat for the wrong reason. I usually eat because I want to taste something and not because I'm hungry. And all that causes me to do is want to taste it again... and again... and again. For me, satisfying my desire to taste something doesn't satiate the desire, but augments it instead. I have to have more.

This leads me to the next part of the problem. Did you know that the American culture is one of the only cultures that uses an external cue to indicate when we should stop eating? When our plate is cleaned, when the tv show is over, when the lunch break ends, etc. Almost all other cultures use an internal cue to alert them when it's time to stop eating - when they feel about 80% full. The reason they stop at 80% is because it takes about 20 minutes for the effects of fullness to be manifested. Do we as Americans have any idea how to even tell when we're about 80% full? Would we stop eating then even if we did?

For me, historically these answers have been 'no.' I am not in tune with my body so I have no idea how full I am until I'm about to pop and have to unbutton the top button on my pants just to be comfortable. (Just in case you're wondering, that is a really bad thing!) And given the fact that I often keep eating even after I feel completely full because I liked the taste of what I was eating, I'd have to say I probably wouldn't stop eating at 80% either. (Again, that's a really bad thing!)

Lately I've been trying to remind myself of one large American (or any first world) blessing: There is always more where that came from. I am beyond blessed to live in a place where there really is more where that came from. I don't have to try and eat it all at once in case there isn't any more later. Sometimes this reminder works, sometimes it doesn't. Hopefully over time it will work more and more. For now, I'm trying to serve myself only one serving for whatever I'm eating and then wait 20 minutes before deciding if I want more or not. Generally, giving myself a 20 minute hiatus is enough to break the need for just one more bite (just one more!). After that pause, I can honestly judge whether I'm full or not.

And the added benefit of allowing myself to have leftovers is that there actually will be more the next day! And it saves money!!